Review - Pop Chips Sweet Potato

Brand:  Pop Chips

Flavor:  Sweet Potato

Where to get it: here @ Amazon.com

                I’m not always on board with popped potato snacks, but I am on board, under the deck, and snuggled into the captain’s bed with these Pop Chips. They also hit the magic number, 100 calories in the snack-size bag. There is decent amount of chips in the bag, but I wish there were more…purely for pig-out reasons. I guess you could dip these guys in something if you wanted to, but I really saw no reason to do so. These are one of the best popped snacks on the market, for my calories.               

                 

               

Tastes like:  Crispy, light sweet potatoes

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Gluten-free, Kosher, vegetarian, vegan, all natural

What’s in it:

Review - Goldbaum's Snap Stix

Brand:  Goldbaum’s

Flavor:  Tangy Ketchup Snap Stix

Where to get it: 

                I discovered ketchup potato chips on a trip to Canada when I was 19. My love for those chips continues to burn, especially since they aren’t readily available here in Washington where I live. I found these Stix and it’s very possible that I squealed aloud. While they aren’t quite the same as a greasy bag of “ketchips,” they’re pretty dang good, and a lot better for you to boot. They’re the “puffy-hollow-straw” variety of shape, which really isn’t my favorite. I tend to think this particular shape of reduced-calorie potato snack is less flavorful and harder to eat, but I appreciate that Goldbaum’s is straying from the usual flavor suspects. Maybe they’ll make me a sweet potato ketchip someday!          

                 

               

Tastes like:  Puffy ketchips   

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:  Gluten free, Non-GMO

What’s in it:

Review - Quest Nutrition Protein Chips

Brand:  Quest

Flavor:  BBQ Protein Chips

Where to get it: here @ Quest Nutrition

               

                Nutritionally, these are a freaking MIRACLE. 120 calories, 2g fat, 5g carbs, and 21g protein. I feel like anything that can deliver those numbers, and even be HALFWAY edible is a miracle. But these chippies were actually TOTALLY edible. The BBQ seasoning covers up 95% of the “protein powder” taste, and the other 5% goes away after you eat a couple chips. My only complaint is that they are so delicate, I had trouble finding a single intact chip in the bag, and about 80% of them were pulverized into “tip the bag into your mouth” status. If the stares of people pretending that they are too civilized to dump chips into their faces don’t bother you, these are just incredible.

                                 

               

Tastes like:  a BBQ’d baked cracker

Taste rating:  8/10

Qualities:  Gluten-free, vegetarian (I think)

What’s in it:

Review - Wai Lana Cassava Pops

Brand:  Wai Lana

Flavor:  Cassava Pops

Where to get it: here @ WaiLana.com

                I love Wai Lana’s regular cassava chips (they are SO much better than regular potato chips, you don’t even know.) So I was pretty excited to receive this 100-calorie bag of Cassava Pops. The taste is close to potato, the salt is right, and the calories are low! The bag is a great snack-sized amount, and I found these to be a lot less Styrofoam-y than some of the other “popped” chips on the market. My love for the Wai Lana brand burns on!

               

Tastes like:  Salty potato chips with a great crunch

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Gluten-free, Non-GMO, Kosher, Vegetarian, Vegan, all-natural, Made in the USA

What’s in it:

Review: Ips Egg White Chips Sea Salt & Black Pepper

Brand:  iPS

Flavor:  Egg White Ch(iPS), Sea Salt & Black Pepper

Where to get it: here @ Ips All Natural

                Anytime a company can pack a decent amount of protein into a snack that’s usually empty carbs, I’m in. I appreciate it. Because trying not to eat any kind of chips ever for the rest of your life is a superhuman request, and I would never make it of any of you. Flavor-wise, these are off the charts, an easy 10. Such genuine black pepper flavor, but it doesn’t overpower, it just works. My only complaint was that I found the chips a little squish. Not soft or soggy, but kind of styrofoamy? Kind of like meringue maybe, which makes perfect sense, since meringue is made from egg whites. At any rate, I’d rather eat hard-boiled egg whites (which I do every day anyway) and some quinoa chips from Simply 7 than these. (I'm not trying to be harsh, just honest.) But they’re definitely worth trying, if you like the texture, or at least don’t mind it, you will love ‘em, because the flavor is on point.

               

Tastes like:  Super flavorful squish

Taste rating:  6.5/10

Qualities:  Gluten-free, all natural, Non-GMO, Made in the USA

What’s in it:

Review: Simply 7 Quinoa Chips

Brand:  Simply 7

Flavor:  Quinoa Chips

Where to get it: here @ Simply 7

                Growing up in a small town, there was a sandwich shop called The Sub Shop (creative, I know) nearby. I always used to get these chips called Munchos with my sandwich. They stopped selling them (at least where I lived) for many years, and when I was a grown up I managed to find them in Canada, and I felt like a tiny slice of my childhood was reborn. Now, they sell them again in my local grocery store, but of course I never buy them because I am no longer a child that doesn’t care about nutrition. Simply 7’s quinoa chips taste EXACTLY like Munchos, but without the greasy yuck feeling. You could even go so far as to say that they taste BETTER than Munchos. I will allow it. I LOVE these chips. They are salty as heck, and so crunchy and delicious. A 1 oz. serving delivers a pretty reasonable 140 calories, especially when you consider that there are *9 grams* of protein in that ounce.

                               

Tastes like:  Munchos, without all the grease

Taste rating:  10/10

Qualities:  Gluten-free, Non-GMO, No artificial ingredients, Vegetarian, Vegan, Kosher

What’s in it:

Review: Enjoy Life Plentils, Margherita Pizza

Brand:  Enjoy Life Plentils

Flavor:  Margherita Pizza

Where to get it: here @ AbesMarket.com

                These are probably my favorite of all the “chip substitute” snacks I have tried. They have a great texture, and the flavoring is strong enough to satisfy my flavor cravings. They don’t taste like potatoes cobbled together with flavorless air like a lot of the other products I have tried. I ate some of these plain, which was good, but then I made some tuna salad and scooped it up with the Plentils, and that was REALLY good. I also feel like these would be great on a sandwich, if you’re the kind of deviant that puts chips ON sandwiches. I am that kind of deviant, so there will be no judgment from me.

               

Tastes like:  Light & airy herb crunchies

Taste rating:  7/10

Qualities:  Gluten Free, Non GMO, All natural, Halal, Kosher, Vegetarian, Vegan, Made in the USA

What’s in it:

Review: The Daily Crave Veggie Sticks

Brand:  The Daily Crave

Flavor:  Veggie Sticks

Where to get it: here @ Soap.com

                Potatoes are a vegetable. Sadly, that's the "veggie" in this veggie sticks. Due to the packaging and the name, I think I was expecting these not to only taste like potatoes. I don’t know what I wanted them to taste like, something unique and different, I suppose. Once I got over the fact that I wasn’t consuming magical carrot-beet-turnip sticks, these were pretty good. Lots of salt, which I find absolutely crucial in some of these healthy snacks – otherwise they end up tasting a lot like Styrofoam. If you’re craving a salty potato snack, these won’t break your diet. If you’re craving something new and different, maybe try Googling a recipe for homemade magical carrot-beet-turnip sticks instead.

Tastes like:  Salted puffy potatoes

Taste rating:  5/10

What’s in it: